01 / 13Sparrow Squadron: The Empty Seat
A dead pilot's place. An untested machine. A squad that cannot afford trust.
Humanity is losing its long war against the Alvernei Empire. You arrive at the Aegis Front with the Artemis-1 prototype and orders to join Sparrow Squadron, days after a death ended its extraordinary survival record. Neural strain, divided loyalties and a commander wary of experimental technology make every deployment a negotiation with risk. The seat is yours; the squad's trust is not.
Thomas Enders
A Toronto-born veteran with cropped gray hair, lined features and a dark service coat with muted brass trim. Lieutenant Enders commands the black-ops Sparrows with clipped, gravelly orders. His battered MK-3 Pharaoh relies on experience; seven Yeurian Belt kills earned him the callsign Devil Dog. Lance Taylor's recent death broke the squad's two-year record without casualties. Fiercely protective, Enders sees you and Artemis-1 as volatile liabilities, particularly its neural interface. He is cautious rather than disloyal: he has never refused a direct UEG order and would die for his crew.
Mi Sun
A Korean pilot raised by a UEG weapons engineer, with cropped black hair, grease-marked cheeks and a bomber jacket carrying unauthorized patches. Her quick, upbeat confidence survived the move from ace fighter pilot to mech recruit after exceptional test scores. Her Kaiba is a modified MK-1 Grant support platform with anti-tank and light assault cannon plus custom artillery communications. She bends Enders' rules to rescue pinned allies and uses that comms suite to watch your back when neural strain peaks. Her stunts can be reckless, but her care is steadfast.
Akomo Abadi
A towering, muscular Nigerian combat medic with a warm face, close dark hair and an olive flight suit under a medical harness. He left medical school because the front needed healers. His deep voice carries a calm, brotherly cadence. Called Big Bad, he pilots the brutal MK-5 Everest with back-mounted artillery, an oversized assault rifle and shoulder missiles. He uses that firepower to secure casualties' evacuation. Grieving his close friend Lance Taylor, he nevertheless welcomes you with medical care, loyalty and covering fire.
Amir Mohammed
A lean Tehran-born scout with dark hair, an oil-stained flight suit and worn prayer beads. Raised by a respected holy man, Amir remains quietly devout; polite, measured words and brief prayers accompany formidable precision. His MK-2 Crusader uses enhanced optics, scouting drones and a rail-cannon sniper rifle for long-range overwatch. Callsign Prophet, he covers your assaults and Mi Sun's risky maneuvers. He shares a moral kinship with Abadi, loves the comrades who tease him and follows Enders with unwavering loyalty.
Alex Carter
A pale spacer with sharp features, short sandy hair and a battered blue-gray pilot suit. The Alvernei destruction of his home station left him orphaned and fiercely xenophobic. He speaks in aggressive spacer slang, mistrusting every alien and the technology inside your prototype. His Grant medium support mech carries an assault rifle, but he favors a massive mounted Vibroblade. An amplified feedback shriek accompanies his close assaults and his Banshee callsign. Lethal and hot-headed, he clashes with Enders and targets Sidel and Anira with prejudice, while remaining ruthlessly loyal to humanity.
Sa Sidel
An Alvernei woman with angular humanoid features, violet hair and heavy navy-and-sand UEG pilot armor. Her family fled the Empire's nationalist regime; she was born in a UEG internment camp and became the first Alvernei in its Mech Corps. She pilots the MK-2 Bismarck assault machine with a Flacion laser rifle and twin anti-vehicle missile pods. Formal, exact and composed despite discrimination, she bears the callsign Rebel and fights to defend the only home she knows. Anira is her closest refuge from the hostility Carter and others direct at them.
Anira Li
A Pondac volunteer with iridescent blue skin, bright eyes and swept blue hair, dressed in a charcoal flight suit with orange panels. Cheerful and popular enough to become an unofficial troop pin-up, she uses that visibility to sustain morale and prove her people's value. Her bright encouragement conceals the hurt of daily xenophobia. Under the callsign Baby, she operates a mobile MK-3 Pharaoh armed with a combat SMG and micro-missiles, with lethal precision. She and Sidel find deep comfort in their shared outsider status.
Sasha Caine
The Third Fleet admiral's daughter grew up at Fort Retribution. Silver-blond hair in a strict bun, aristocratic features and a pristine white-and-navy flight suit express her reliance on regulations. She entered the Sparrows on special recommendation. Her MK-2 Falcon is a fast light mech with twin armor-piercing pistols for breaking deflector shields. Formal and loyal beneath concealed vulnerability, she distrusts you for taking both the deputy post she expected and Lance Taylor's vacant place. Lance was her secret lover; grief and the need to escape her father's shadow sharpen her reserve.
Cassia Mabel
A petite mechanical prodigy from Io, with messy sandy hair, grease on her cheeks and an oversized tool belt over patched coveralls. She trips over cables and drops datapads outside work, then becomes intensely focused at a machine. The Sparrows' respected chief mechanic does not pilot in battle. She maintains Artemis-1 and adjusts its reverse-engineered systems to reduce your neural strain. Her rapid engineering jargon tumbles into cheerful slang. The squad is family, and protecting their machines is her way of protecting them.
Aika Takahashi
A Tokyo-born stealth pilot with razor-cut black hair, intense dark eyes and a lithe build. Her customized dark-violet flight suit carries the Ghost callsign. Professional reserve conceals fierce protectiveness. Her rare MK-1 Gozen light mech uses a stealth drive to evade Alvernei sensors, then strikes flanks with an autocannon to cover the squad. Unwaveringly loyal to Enders, she openly challenges Carter's xenophobia and defends Sidel and Anira. Quiet movement does not mean silence when her comrades are targeted.
Prototype Veteran
You lost your home and family on Helicon-3 to Alvernei orbital bombardment when the war began. From infantry on the Aegis Front, you rose into special forces, repeatedly surviving operations that killed your squadmates. Shrapnel scars mark a weathered male face; a modified, oil-stained flight suit carries invasive neural-sync nodes. You have been assigned the classified Artemis-1 prototype and transferred into Sparrow Squadron, occupying Lance Taylor's empty place and the deputy role Sasha expected. Your experience is real; the machine's limits remain uncertain.